Posts labeled Ancient Greece
Review - The Song of Achilles
My rating:
The love between Achilles and Patroclus is one of the great classics of Greek literature. For gay men, it’s a story we can look to as proof that there have always been men who loved other men, and they weren’t always as reviled as we sometimes feel in modern society. It’s no wonder that contemporary authors keep returning to the story to try and reinterpret it. “The Song of Achilles” gives us the story from Patroclus’ point of view.
Tags: Ancient Greece Myth
Review - The Rise and Fall of the Sacred Band of Thebes
My rating:
This review has also appeared at Speak Its Name. The Rise and Fall of the Sacred Band of Thebes opens on that fateful day on the plain of Chaeronea, when Philip and his golden son wipe out almost all of the Sacred Band. Almost all, for although badly wounded, Nikanoras still lives, much to his shame. Alexander finds him and has his wounds tended. From that desperate opening scene, we flash back to Nikanoras’ childhood.
Tags: Historical Ancient Greece
Review - Alike As Two Bees
My rating:
This review was originally written for Speak Its Name. This version contains a bit of a spoiler, so if you don’t want that, read the version that appears at Speak Its Name where it’s been edited out. Anatolios and Philon are young apprentice sculptors in Classical Greece. Anatolios is a precocious boy of just 13 years. Philon is much older, around 20, and treats Anatolios like a brother. Their master Nikias treats both boys as his own sons.
Tags: Ancient Greece
Review - Achilles: A Love Story
My rating:
This review was originally written for the Speak Its Name web site: The Greek era has always been one of my favorites for historical romance. Perhaps it’s because Mary Ranault’s Alexander books were the first historical novels with a gay bent I ever read, or maybe it’s just because it was a time when love between men was not only accepted, but almost expected. So I had high, perhaps unreasonable, hopes when offered “Achilles: A Love Story”.
Tags: Historical Ancient Greece